Devotionals

Weekly Devotionals from Pastor Mike Fabarez

Real Worship

Real worship is not easy. The difficulty is usually commensurate with the amount of pride in our hearts. Worship is hard because it requires that we attribute to another what our flesh desires to receive – the credit! At the core of worship...

Relieving Doubt

When we experience uncertainty, doubt or insecurities that the world is sure to bring, let us be sure that the cause is never our equivocation about God’s faithfulness. Let us always remember that...

Trials and Prayer

When you are on the fence about whether to share your trial, your hurt or your burden

What Is Faith?

Faith in Christ as we walk through this life can easily be mistaken for optimism...

Prayer Perspective

When Jesus gave his disciples coaching on how we should pray (Mt.6:9ff.) his instructive template...

Boldness

When we think of what it means to be a godly person, several virtues are likely to come to mind...

Idolatry

The challenging New Testament letter of 1 John ends with the poignant summation to “keep yourself from idols” (5:21). While our minds may revert to flannel graph images of...

Suffering and Openness

When we encounter tough times we tend to want to isolate ourselves. Because of the pain, fear of embarrassment, or doubts regarding others’ understanding, we often choose to...

Shine Your Light

Jesus was clear that he has no interest in “covert Christians.” He expects our commitment to him to “shine” forth in everything we do. He has no tolerance for...

Anxiety

When we are gripped with anxiety, we are good for nothing! The Greek word the New Testament uses for this vice paints the picture of a mind that is scattered and divided, having trouble concentrating...

That Uncomfortable Feeling

I recently read an article based on the stated premise that “the Bible should be read for one’s enjoyment.” With that objective, it was no surprise that the rest of the piece consisted of the author aggressively...

Earthly Jobs

The Bible calls all Christians to see their daily work at their so-called “secular jobs” as a series of sacred acts of service to our King. We must look beyond our earthly bosses...

Exchanging Our Expletives

The dictionary defines “expletives” as “words with no meaning.” They are those words we blurt out as our impromptu expressions…

A Simple Cure

When, in Psalm 73, the psalmist finds himself frustrated by his daily struggles and aggravated by the inequities of life, it is amazing how quickly and simply his angst is resolved...

Reading the Whole Bible

Reading through the Bible, from cover to cover, on a regular basis is a critically important discipline for a healthy Christian life. With that said, it is important to distinguish this from reading for study...

Christ with Us

God has promised his kids that he would never leave them and never forsake them (Heb.13:5b). Before Jesus physically left…

Epaphroditus

Epaphroditus is one of the many unsung heroes of the Bible. His name means “attractive”. And while we don’t know anything about his physical appearance, when we read the New Testament we quickly discover that he possessed a beautiful character...

Doubt

It’s not just Thomas; every Christian has moments and even seasons of doubt. But the best prescription when doubts arise is to go back to Christ’s credentials and the reliability of the biblical documents. Consider the fact that our confidence...

Real Missions

The Book of Acts is a story about first century Christians who, by today’s popular standards, would be considered brash, judgmental, narrow-minded zealots who were fueled by some sort of spiritual imperialism devoid of any real empathy, care or compassion...

Prayer Requests

Be careful what you repeatedly ask of God. You can’t always judge a prayer by its answer. While it’s true that many times in his kindness God withholds granting what we foolishly or selfishly request...

Perspectives on the Unseen

To hold a biblical perspective on reality is to affirm that there is more to reality than what meets the eye. In fact, what you don’t see matters far more than what you do see. Paul writes...

Spiritual Sensitivity

The lenses of our eyes are extremely sensitive. It doesn’t take but a speck of dust to stop us in our tracks so that we can delicately and diligently work to extract the irritating particle. That’s what makes Christ’s illustration concerning...

Sharing Meals

God can accomplish a lot of good in the lives of his people when they take their meals together. Think of how often throughout the Bible a feast, a banquet, a breakfast, lunch or dinner serves as the setting for some profound lesson, as an opportunity...

Preparing for God’s Word

Responding appropriately to God’s word, whether it is being read or it is being preached, requires an important preparatory step that is often neglected. God’s word is said to be “living and active” and sufficiently able to have a transforming...

God’s Truth

The Bible is full of severe and hard realities. Its propositions aren’t fuzzy or soft; they’re strong, stern and unambiguous. Its heroes aren’t hailed for being sensitive and emotional; they’re lauded for being principled...

Obedience

At its core, the problem with sin has much less to do with the act itself, and much more to do with the fact that any commission of sin is a rebellion against God’s authority. In our pragmatic world, that is an increasingly rare perspective...

Glorify Christ

It is amazing to me how little effort we Christians commonly put into our work and service for Christ. When the world puts on a dinner for a band of politicians, a red carpet premier for an ensemble of actors, or an awards banquet for a varied group of athletes...

Compartmentalization

It is easy to compartmentalize our lives. While sitting in church we can approvingly nod at the biblical lessons that call Christ’s followers to sacrifice, deny themselves, and leave behind earthly pleasures to store up treasure in heaven. But come Monday morning...

Real Trust

Trust in God is often expressed by our restraint. We are expected to recognize that God is present, aware and lovingly involved in every difficult situation we face. It is required that Christians curb many of...

Communion

The Bible tells us that we need to take a good, long look at what is going on in our hearts when we partake in the Lord’s Supper. “Let a person examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup...
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